It is common to employ one of many existing network management tools to manage computer and/or telecommunications networks. Network management tools typically run on a computer and provide a graphical user interface (GUI) that displays network objects and their state or status. These network management tools enable the maintenance, surveillance and administration of the network objects which make up the network by providing an interface through which information and commands may be passed such as alarm monitoring, test and diagnosis of faults, performance monitoring and connection management. The network objects that make up a network include network nodes such as hubs, switches and the like, and network links between network nodes, such as wire and fiber optic cables and the like.
The network management tools for a telecommunications network are typically more complex than those for a computer network in that telecommunications network nodes and connections are more complex and can simultaneously be in one or more of a large number of states.
In order to handle this complexity, certain network management tools have been developed which use Bellcore and ISO (International Standards Organization) standards which specify a set of generic states and statuses that network objects forming part of a telecommunications network can be in. The network management tools using these standards typically create their own visual indications or representations of the various states and statuses for display on a computer screen. Generally, network objects are represented by icons and the various attributes of the icons, such as outlines, shadings, line types or the like, can be varied to indicate the state or status of the network icons. One such network management tool system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,015 to Planas.
While network management tools employing standards based visual indicators provide considerable detail, they are often overly complex both in the amount of information presented and in the interrelationships between the representations of the various states and statuses. Recently, network management systems are being deployed to end users of networks. It is important for these end users that the network management tools and the graphical user interface to work with the tools be relatively simple and easy to understand without excessive study.